Cruise control

In a new biography, celebrity hound Andrew Morton sees Tom Cruise less as an actor, more a bullying evangelist

If Andrew Morton8217;s Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography is published peacefully on Tuesday, one of its basic assertions will be undermined. If Morton is right about the litigious fervor of either Cruise, who is the book8217;s ostensible subject, or the Church of Scientology, which is its real one, the publication will be met with dirty tricks, messianic anger and relentless harassment. If Morton is wrong about it, there will be fewer fireworks. After all, among this biography8217;s revelations is the fact that Cruise was a cute kid.

Morton, 8220;a leading authority on modern celebrity8221; according to this book8217;s jacket copy and the mouthpiece for 1992 payback to the royal family by Diana, Princess of Wales Diana: Her True Story, is best equipped for one thing: treating the travails of the famous as matters of earth-shaking consequence. He has gravitated to subjects who either appreciate Monica Lewinsky or wield Madonna some form of intoxicating power.

In Cruise8217;s case, Morton sees a domineering, aggressive character who has joined forces with Scientology to catapult his activities beyond the realm of mere glitter. 8220;Tom8221;8212;naturally he8217;s on a first-name basis8212;8220;is a movie messiah who reflects and refracts the fears and doubts of our times, trading on the unfettered power of modern celebrity, our embrace of religious extremism and the unnerving scale of globalization.8221;

The Cruise of this book is unremarkably heterosexual throughout its tedious opening chapters about his boyhood. 8220;I was black and blue from the gearshift, I can tell you that,8221; says a high school girlfriend who spent time with him in a car.

The book describes Cruise8217;s speedy rise from walk-on obscurity Endless Love in 1981 to the Hollywood stratosphere Top Gun, 1986 while placing more emphasis on the evolution of his private life.

By 1985 he had become involved with Mimi Rogers, his first wife, who provided an entreacute;e into the world of Scientology. Morton8217;s overall impression of Cruise makes sense. He provides a credible portrait extrapolated from the actor8217;s on-the-record remarks and highly visible public behavior. This book describes a controlling, fervent figure whose personal needs dovetailed with the strict hierarchical structure of his newfound faith. At some point, he decided to dedicate himself to proselytizing on its behalf. David Miscavige, the Church of Scientology8217;s powerful leader is presented as someone whose outlook and gestures Cruise has appropriated and who himself shares Cruise8217;s gung-ho proclivities.

After Cruise agreed to visit the church8217;s heavily guarded Gold Base compound in the California desert in the summer of 1989, the book says, Miscavige 8220;gleefully announced to his closest staff, 8216;the most important recruit ever is in the process of being secured. His arrival will change the face of Scientology forever.8217;8221; Morton would be on much more solid ground had he backed that quotation with direct or even second-hand attribution.

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If the book attracts as much flak as it does interest, the fuss will be less about blind quotations than about interpretation. The phrase 8220;merchant of chaos8221; has been used by Cruise to excoriate his father, and Morton treats it as a sinister epithet. Maybe it is. But it is also used by the literature of Scientology to describe those who profit by promulgating disturbing thoughts.

Authorities on celebrity are not immune to this accusation.
-JANET MASLIN NYT